Skip to main content

Full Disclosure

Last week my seventh grader had a science project to do.  He completed the project on aerodynamics and wrote the report.  But the real work was not included in the report.  The original experiment called for an industrial-size fan, which my son assured me he could replicate.  Well, not quite.  He tried a fan, then two, then three.  Then he tried a blow dryer.  Nothing.  Then somehow he came up with the idea of a leaf blower.  And it worked.  But the trial and error part, the real work that took a full weekend, never made it into the report.  There was just one simple word in the material list and one simple line in the procedures, "Turn on leaf blower."
So here's my full disclosure.  I hung a reused light in the kitchen, which I loved.  Then I came home one night to find this:
The lights had actually melted the holders!   Thank goodness nothing worse happened.  The bulbs I used were too high a wattage.  So I went to the hardware store and bought replacements.  Cool, huh, that they have candle sleeves for chandeliers at the hardware store.

Out with the old:


And in with the new:


Now our new old light works again!  Full disclosure.  No matter how simple it may look on the outside, nothing is ever easy.  The grace lies in making it look that way.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Seeds

 Last night I ran to Target to get lettuce for Taco Tuesday. It wouldn't be the same if we didn't have tacos and I didn't want to disappoint Charlie. Charlie doesn't even live here right now, but for some reason, it is important to continue these traditions and be able to tell him that we had Tacos on Tuesday.  Anyway, in Target there was a whole display of seed packets, brightly colored, shiny packets, with pictures of everything from Okra to peas to sunflowers to Sweet Williams. I stood there a moment holding my lettuce. The packets were nicely organized and so appealing. The sun in the pictures made the flowers glisten just so. It's hard to believe these little envelopes could contain so much goodness inside.  I know we've heard this analogy before - water that which you want to grow , and plant seeds of kindness, but for some reason last night it struck me differently. Sometimes it's messy. My garden right now is a mess. We removed the old tomato plants...

Connecting

Often we hear about how important it is to grow, stretch our wings, reach out. I've heard from astrology friends that the planets are aligned in a new way right now and that this is an incredible time to bring new things into our lives. But what? you ask. What am I trying to do, what am I trying to grow toward? The only way to answer that is to be grounded, to be deeply rooted in who we are. Then we'll know where to grow, how to grow, and what we need.  So how do we get there? First, we have to go back to what we wanted as young 20-somethings. What were you dreaming of then? How has your life matched those goals? How has it veered off course? Are there dreams that have been dormant? Just lingering beneath the surface? When we connect back to our truest selves, the ones that existed before kids, before marriage, before time and life took a toll on us, what does that self still yearn for? Going back to our roots, connecting to our inner child, our inner voice will encourage us to...

What Is Grief?

 What is grief? It is standing in the shower and  you are suddenly crying and then you are sobbing. And you barely thought about it in the two days since you heard  your Uncle Rich passed. You thought about your dad and your cousins and your aunt and how sad they must be and you checked in on your dad. "I'm so so sorry." And you went to work and you did what you had to do. And now you are ready for another day and you are thinking of all the things and then you are crying and you are little again and vulnerable  and your heart hurts. And you remember everyone. Medford Lakes and a swimming pool and laughing so hard  and dancing around a Christmas tree and fireworks by the lake at night. And you can see his face and all their faces smiling Aunts and uncles and cousins and brothers who aren't here. And you remember his voice, deep and laughing, and you remember his kindness and his advice. "Are you taking vitamin C, Joannie?" You see all their faces and you mis...